FAQ - SSIA maturity

Special Savings Incentive Accounts (SSIAs) are a five-year savings scheme in which the Government tops-up, by way of a tax credit, subscriptions made by an individual to his or her SSIA, which are about to commence maturing soon. 

The basic proposition required you lodge €5 each month to your SSIA with your financial institution, you are entitled to receive €1 each month by way of a tax credit from the Government.

The maximum lodgement that could be made every month is €254.

Your financial institution claims this credit on your behalf and lodges it to your SSIA each month. The funds lodged in the SSIA are held on deposit or invested in other investment products such as a life assurance investment policy.  

SSIAs, which commenced between 1 May 2001 and 30 April 2002, will mature during the period 31 May 2006 to 30 April 2007. 

You have been entitled to make monthly subscriptions to your SSIA over a five-year period. If you opened your SSIA in May 2001, your 60th monthly subscription will be made in April 2006.   However, in order to give time for your financial institution to obtain from the Exchequer the tax credit in respect of that last subscription, your SSIA will not be treated as maturing until the end of the next month i.e. end of May 2006.   (See TABLE below for full list of maturity dates.)  In order to ensure maturity of your SSIA, you are obliged by SSIA rules to make a declaration to your financial institution.

Yes.   You are obliged by law to make a declaration in writing on a form known as an SSIA4 to the financial institution with which you have your SSIA.

Your financial institution will, at the appropriate time, supply you with the SSIA4 that you are required to complete and on which you make the required declaration.   When completed and signed, you must return the SSIA4 to your financial institution.   

You will be required to declare that, at all times in the period from the date on which your SSIA started until the date the declaration is made, you –

• were the beneficial owner of the assets in the SSIA,
• had only one SSIA,
• were resident or ordinarily resident in the State,
• subscribed to your SSIA from funds available to you or your spouse without recourse to borrowings, or the deferral of repayment (whether of capital or interest) of sums borrowed when the SSIA started, and
• did not assign or otherwise pledge SSIA assets as security for a loan.

The SSIA4 must be completed by you and returned to your financial institution within the three months ending on your SSIA maturity date.  For example if your SSIA started in May 2001, the SSIA4 must be completed and returned to your financial institution in the period 1 March 2006 to 31 May 2006 – see TABLE below. 

When your SSIA matures, only the profit earned from the investment of both your subscriptions and Exchequer tax credits will be liable to tax at 23%. In the case of an SSIA that is a deposit account this profit will be the interest earned. Your financial institution will deduct this tax and forward it to the Revenue Commissioners. There are no further tax liabilities concerning your SSIA. 

When your SSIA has matured and the tax due on maturity has been deducted, your SSIA then becomes an ordinary investment product whether it is a deposit account, life assurance investment policy or otherwise.    It is a matter for yourself whether or not you then want to withdraw the funds from that ordinary investment.   However, since it will no longer be an SSIA any further subscriptions will not attract an Exchequer tax credit.

The full list of maturity dates for all SSIAs is outlined in the TABLE below.  You can identify your SSIA maturity date by checking the month you started your SSIA and checking the corresponding SSIA maturity date.  This TABLE also shows the period during which the SSIA4 should be completed.

For example, if you commenced your SSIA in February 2002, the maturity date is 28 February 2007. You will be obliged to complete and sign and return an SSIA4 declaration to your financial institution between 1 December 2006 and 28 February 2007.